AuthorTopic: 5ghz access points (Read 2102 times)

Does anyone here have any first hand experience of 5ghz access points please? I am looking to add one to overcome my wireless access in parts of the house. BTW not interested in any powerline stuff, this will be fed via cat5e and needs a 1ghz lan port.

If the reason that your 2.4GHz network is performing badly is because of lots of local interference in that band the 5GHz may help by dodging it, but 5GHz is not inherently better than 2.4 and arguably, it is in some ways inherently worse.

Also read this thread from last year, with helpful input from Kitz & others, various points of view, all valid.

Well the reason I am going 5ghz is that at least for me the range and coverage is better than 2.4ghz as I have a 5ghz capable router. However because of where the main phone point is in the house I have to have the router upsatirs in the front bedroom by the front wall, moving it elsewhere is not really possible as I do have wired stuff as well. So if I am getting an access point dual band is for me a no brainer.

I was hoping anyone with such a beast might say make and model as well as how well it performs.

Stuart

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ISP:TalkTalk Connection:FTTC Cab:ECI Router:Netgear D6220

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Weaver has already linked to one of the threads where I mention the Ubiquiti kit - all I'd add/emphasise is that it uses PoE (adapter included) so wiring is easy for a ceiling mount with cabling in the loft. Oh and it has a second GigE socket but I've never found a use for that - in theory I think you could daisy-chain APs but I don't think the bundled PoE adaptor is up to the job (just looked and it isn't).

Since that thread I have tweaked a bit and with the wife/daughters HP Spectre x360 (I was so impressed I bought two ) I can get around 400Mbps data throughput on average (PHY link is 867Mbps) but I have hit 600Mbps which is close to the theoretical max for a 2x2 AC adaptor. Using a 3x3 adaptor on another machine I can get 600Mbps throughput on a 1300Mbps PHY link.

Only downside is that the AP tends to "burble" a bit like a 2.5" hard disk now. It didn't do this at the start and IMHO its down to the liquid used inside the heatsink reacting with something else/aging. AP still works fine but you can hear when its in active use if you stand close to it. Oh there is one other downside - you need Java runtime on the machine which you intend to use to "provision" (setup) the APs if you want to use a graphical interface. Either that or use a command line script via SSH.

I have several TP-Link 5-5GHz only WAPs and a couple of Zyxel 2.4/5GHz dual SSID units. Each one of the Zyxel devices operates simultaneous LANs with possibly different names on each of the two frequencies.

I've found both devices to be extremely reliable. The Zyxel's sluggish GUI is a bit of an unfriendly pig of a thing though, but it works really well once configured.

The ubiquity second port is quite handy if you have IP cameras or something nearby - it makes connecting them up and linking much easier!

I'll throw my name in for the Ubiquity kit too!!

I've got two of the Loco M5's linking two houses together for Internet. One house is being fixed up and it was in LOS to my parents house. I used the 5GHZ band for a good connectiono and it's linked at 270mbps day and night!

Last time I checked, they had an uptime of almost 180 days odd?

The products are easy to configure, good regular updates for security and are a quality bit of kit to install - I like them. The outdoor units have power indicator lights on too for signal strength, which was well handy for aligning them when up on a roof.